In this post I will explain how I prepared in order to film flight of the International Space Station over my neighborhood.

International Space Station is one of the most advanced systems created by human race. And as a software tester, I am very interested in those systems.

Nasa offers free service called spot the station. Register your email and you will receive notification when ISS is going to overflight over your town. Here is email content:

First advice, create alarm notification on your phone, 5 minutes before time noted in the email.

Second, as a tester you should investigate meaning of other attributes of ISS overflight. This picture will help you to better understand those attributes:

credit: nasa.gov

Time and visible are straightforward.

Max Height.

Unit are degrees. And now your high school trigonometry class should kick in. Those degrees represent the angle (elevation) where ISS will reach maximal height over your position. Angle is measured from horizon (in direction of ISS appearing) that represents 0 degrees. And software test goody: if you put your hand in horizon, than your fist approximately represents 10 degrees. Have you managed to measure those 10 degrees?